For people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis and other chronic lung diseases, keeping a close eye on their blood oxygen level is often part of the daily routine. However, for people living with COPD and other chronic lung conditions, receiving enough oxygen can be challenging. Every cell, organ and tissue in your body needs adequate oxygen, so oxygen is essential to a properly functioning body. When your body doesn’t receive enough oxygen, it’s unable to function properly. We’re here to help you better understand your blood oxygen level, how your body gets oxygen and what it could mean for you.

Oxygen and the Body

Your body uses oxygen in various ways to keep you at your best. Your blood transports oxygen throughout your body. Your body contains many different types of blood vessels, which act as the road system for your blood to travel throughout your body. Oxygen-rich blood travels through arteries and arterial branches to deliver oxygen and essential nutrients to your body. Capillaries are small, thin blood vessels that connect arteries and veins. Capillaries are important because they allow oxygen, nutrients, carbon dioxide and waste to pass to and from the tissue’s cells. Oxygen-poor blood travels through veins back to the heart and lungs where it will be re-oxygenated.

Your heart and lungs work together to deliver oxygen to your body, and your lungs inhale oxygen-rich air and exhale carbon dioxide. The heart pumps your blood to your lungs, so your blood can become oxygenated. Then, your heart pumps the oxygenated blood through your arteries and sends your blood to deliver oxygen to other cells, organs and tissues in your body.

How Your Heart and Lungs Deliver Oxygen Step-by-Step

Your heart has four chambers and four valves, which work to pump blood throughout your body. Your lungs and linked blood vessels deliver oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. The bronchi inside the lungs branch into smaller, thinner tubes called bronchioles. These tubes end in bunches of tiny, round air sacs called alveoli. Alveoli are covered in capillaries, and these capillaries connect to a network of veins and arteries.

The pulmonary artery and its branches deliver oxygen-poor blood to the capillaries that surround the air sacs. Once inside the air sacs, carbon dioxide moves from the blood and into the air to be exhaled while oxygen moves from inhaled air into the capillaries. Oxygen-rich blood then travels to the heart through the pulmonary vein and its branches, and on to the rest of the body.

Here’s How Oxygen Is Moved Through the Heart and Lungs to the Body:

A healthy, normal blood oxygen level remains around 95 percent to 100 percent. You can monitor your blood oxygen level at home with a pulse oximeter. Values below 90 percent are considered low.

When your body doesn’t receive enough oxygen and you have a low blood oxygen level, hypoxemia or hypoxia, cyanosis and other conditions may occur. Because COPD and other chronic lung diseases restrict or obstruct normal breathing, low blood oxygen levels can be a serious issue. Hypoxemia or hypoxia occurs when your body has insufficient oxygen and can range from mild to severe. Symptoms of hypoxia can include severe shortness of breath, wheezing, constant coughing, a choking feeling and a bluish discoloration of the skin (cyanosis).

Chronic hypoxia can lead to cerebral hypoxia or brain hypoxia, which means that your brain cells could become seriously damaged within minutes.

Improve Your Blood Oxygen Level

Many doctors will prescribe oxygen therapy to help you receive enough oxygen and to improve your blood oxygen levels. Your doctor may also prescribe breathing exercises, diet and exercise changes, pulmonary rehabilitation and medications to help you breathe. Keeping a close eye on your blood oxygen level is important as well. Remember to see your doctor regularly even if you’re feeling well, so you and your doctor can work together.

In combination with traditional treatments, many people with COPD and other chronic lung diseases have seen improvements to their pulmonary function after cellular therapy. A relatively new treatment, cellular therapy works to promote healing from within the lungs, potentially improving lung function. In fact, many patients report coming off or significantly reducing their oxygen therapy use after treatment. If you or a loved one has COPD, emphysema, pulmonary fibrosis or another chronic lung disease and would like to learn more about your options, contact us at the Lung Institute at (855) 621-1526.

* Every patient is given a Patient Satisfaction Survey shortly after treatment. Responses to the 11-question survey are aggregated to determine patient satisfaction with the delivery of treatment.

^ Quality of Life Survey data measured the patient’s self-assessed quality of life and measurable quality of improvement at three months of COPD patients.

All claims made regarding the efficacy of Lung Institute's treatments as they pertain to pulmonary conditions are based solely on anecdotal support collected by Lung Institute. Individual conditions, treatment and outcomes may vary and are not necessarily indicative of future results. Testimonial participation is voluntary. Lung Institute does not pay for or script patient testimonials.

As required by Texas state law, the Lung Institute Dallas Clinic has received Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval from MaGil IRB, now Chesapeake IRB, which is fully accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Program (AAHRPP), for research protocols and procedures. The Lung Institute has implemented these IRB approved standards at all of its clinics nationwide. Approval indicates that we follow rigorous standards for ethics, quality, and protections for human research.

Privacy & Security Practices

The Lung Institute takes patient privacy seriously. The law requires that our healthcare facilities and medical personnel protect the privacy of your medical record and other health information We are also required to notify you of our privacy practices with regard to your Protected Health Information. This Privacy & Security Notice explains how your medical information is protected under HIPAA and HITECH laws and how your information may be used, disclosed, and accessed.

Internet Privacy Disclosure

The Information We Collect: The Lung Institute collects information by various methods including information actively provided by its lead providers, customers and information arising from customer surveys and general feedback. The types of personal information we collect include name, contact information, identification information, credit information and other data types as appropriate. Credit card information is used for billing purposes only.

We may record calls to or from our patient coordinators/customer service representatives for purposes of accuracy, performance reviews, training and general quality assurance.

How We Use This Information: This information is used to aid in the provision of our various products and services, including customer service, accounting, billing, collections and the marketing of other products and services. The Lung Institute may use aggregate or anonymous information for various uses for itself and third parties.

Who We Share This Information With: The Lung Institute does not share personal information with any third parties except as disclosed in this policy. The Lung Institute may provide personal information to the Lung Institute's subcontractors and professional advisers (which shall be bound by privacy obligations) to assist the Lung Institute's uses disclosed herein.
Security Personal information is stored in a combination of paper and electronic files. They are protected by security measures appropriate to the nature of the information.

Accessing Information: Individuals may review their personal information contained in the Lung Institute's files by contacting the Lung Institute's privacy officer. If an individual believes that any of their personal information is inaccurate, we will make appropriate corrections.

Cookies:Cookies are used by the Lung Institute for the convenience of our users. Cookies automatically authenticate the user. A user can access the Lung Institute's website with the cookie feature turned off. However, in doing so they may find themselves challenged for username and password information on multiple occasions. The Lung Institute also uses cookies to track user’s visits and uses that information to improve the user’s experience.

Links: The Lung Institute's website may contain links to information at other websites. When you click on one of these links, you are moving to another website. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of these linked sites as their privacy policy may differ from ours.

Telephone Numbers and Calls: By providing your telephone number to the Lung Institute on this contact form, you acknowledge and agree that you may receive a telephone call from the Lung Institute, at the number you provided on the online form, to receive information regarding the treatments offered at the Lung Institute. Such telephone calls may be placed by an automatic telephone dialing system and/or may contain prerecorded messages. By providing your mobile number to the Lung Institute, you further acknowledge and agree that you may receive text messages (SMS) from the Lung Institute at the number you provided to the Lung Institute. Protected Health Information will not be requested by the Lung Institute, if you choose to respond with Protected Health Information you agree to release the Lung Institute from any liability related to such disclosure. Be advised that any telephone calls and/or text messages are strictly informational and/or transactional in nature. the Lung Institute therefore does not accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of email messages, or any responding emails that contain confidential patient information, which arise as a result of email transmission. This statement is required by Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. Sections 2510-2521

General:The Lung Institute may amend this policy from time to time. If such amendments affect how the Lung Institute uses or discloses personal information already held by the Lung Institute in a material way, the Lung Institute will obtain consent.

Notwithstanding the general terms of this policy, the collection, use, and disclosure of personal information may be made outside of the terms herein to the extent provided for in any applicable privacy or other legislation in effect from time to time.
The Lung Institute may disclose personal information to another entity purchasing (including for diligence purposes prior to purchase) the assets of the Lung Institute, provided that entity abide